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Home Secretary Theresa May has said that police forces need to ensure that they protect frontline staff by making cost savings on IT.

May was responding to concerns raised by Labour MP Natascha Engel about budget cuts in Derbyshire and what impact they will have on rural communities.

"We have been absolutely clear about the need for forces to ensure that the cuts are made to the back office, procurement, IT provision and so forth," said May, in a parliamentary written answer published on 6 December 2010.

"Forces must focus, in line with what chief constables up and down the country are saying, on frontline policing, on visible community policing, which is of benefit not only to forces in terms of catching criminals, but of course to local communities," the statement read.

October's Comprehensive Spending Review revealed that the police budget will be cut by 8 per cent in 2012-13; 6 per cent in 2013-14; and 4 per cent in each of the following two years. The Home Office will announce later this month how much police forces will receive in grants.